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Does a teenager really need a car?

I can't agree more with most of the comments in this thread. If you want to drive, pay for it on your own. You'll appreciate everything about driving.

I had the misfortune of getting in a little fender bender back in my senior year of high school 4 1/2 years ago. Bought my car used from a summer job, but was on the family insurance. Luckily didn't get dinged with a spike in the insurance thanks to one accidental forgiveness, but I was booted off the insurance by my mom the very next day. The car suffered just enough damage to be considered totaled and took a loss of $1800.

Now that my college degree will be in-hand in about 3 weeks, I reflect back on those days and am ready as ever to get back behind the wheel. But this time, it's all going to be different. I'll probably have to lock down a job of some kind for a few months before I can afford all the necessities of driving. Another used car, an affordable insurance plan, and plenty of funds for gas and routine maintenance.

The take-home message is for all young drivers out there:

If you're financially ready to support your needs and are prepared for the unexpected, then you're ready to drive.
 
I guess it depends on where you live. I live in a highway filled suburb and if your parents want you to work and don't want to drive you everywhere, they get you a car when you turn 17. My parents got me a cheap car when I was 17 just to test my driving ability, then I got my nice car a year later. Parents around here usually get their kids cars to take a huge burden off of themselves. As long as I worked I was able to keep my car.
 
Typical thinking

Amazing how you had NOT ONE WORD about earning the vehicle yourself. That speaks VOLUMES of today's kids and society. The gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I deserve it generation.

When I was 15 I did anything and everything to earn a dollar, nothing was below my pride. Cut grass, wash cars, carry grocery bags to the car and help old people load them in for tips.

I earned $500.00, it was enough to buy a used VERY USED car. I washed it waxed it, made it pretty and sold it for $950.00. I keep doing that till I could buy a bran new car with CASH I earned.

SO how about you get off the computer, unplug the Xbox, and earn your way and you will never ever need anyone's opinion on what you should do with the MONEY YOU EARNED.

Ya - I know, foreign concept here in the U.S.A. Under the free cell phone Obama era huh?
 
kendall69 said:
Amazing how you had NOT ONE WORD about earning the vehicle yourself. That speaks VOLUMES of today's kids and society. The gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I deserve it generation.

When I was 15 I did anything and everything to earn a dollar, nothing was below my pride. Cut grass, wash cars, carry grocery bags to the car and help old people load them in for tips.

I earned $500.00, it was enough to buy a used VERY USED car. I washed it waxed it, made it pretty and sold it for $950.00. I keep doing that till I could buy a bran new car with CASH I earned.

SO how about you get off the computer, unplug the Xbox, and earn your way and you will never ever need anyone's opinion on what you should do with the MONEY YOU EARNED.

Ya - I know, foreign concept here in the U.S.A. Under the free cell phone Obama era huh?
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I think this is pretty unwarranted.

You don't know his situation ang guess what, even if it is given to him, it really is none of your concern
 
kendall69 said:
Amazing how you had NOT ONE WORD about earning the vehicle yourself. That speaks VOLUMES of today's kids and society. The gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, I deserve it generation.

When I was 15 I did anything and everything to earn a dollar, nothing was below my pride. Cut grass, wash cars, carry grocery bags to the car and help old people load them in for tips.

I earned $500.00, it was enough to buy a used VERY USED car. I washed it waxed it, made it pretty and sold it for $950.00. I keep doing that till I could buy a bran new car with CASH I earned.

SO how about you get off the computer, unplug the Xbox, and earn your way and you will never ever need anyone's opinion on what you should do with the MONEY YOU EARNED.

Ya - I know, foreign concept here in the U.S.A. Under the free cell phone Obama era huh?
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How about maybe not everyone has the same values as you? Maybe some people's parents want them to focus on school and maybe a part time job so they have a bright future and don't want them to worry about paying for a car since they are fortunate enough to be financially well off. Why do you people think everyone should be exactly like you? Some people take a different approach to raising their kids and they still come out good. By the way, nice try throwing Obama into something completely unrelated.
 
Huntn said:
In some cases yes, at least access to a car. When I was a senior in High School, they dropped the football program and allowed players to transfer to another school who was keeping football. I transferred, my parents trusted me and did not want to make two, 18 mile round trips per day to take and fetch me.
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The key word here is certainly "access". IMO a teenager does not need their own car, but I support the idea of driving as a privilege.

Mr Kram said:
no one "needs" a car. it's a privilege and a great convenience.
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So where does this short-sighted thought come from? Live in any suburban town in the US and at some point you will at least need ACCESS to a car.
 
When I was a teenager, I definitely didn't "need" a car. I was able to use my parents car when they weren't using it, and I used my moped, biked, or walked to anywhere I really had to be (school, work, etc.).
 
turtle777 said:
Chances are greater than 90% that he's spot on with his assessment.

-t
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What assessment? It seems a post generated out of jealousy (derived from the brief info the OP has provided us) and may have no bearing on the OP's situation.

This thread isn't about one's circumstances, but for a need of a car or whatnot. Trying to instill "values" is not his place. Kudos for him buying a car with his money. I am sure he walked uphill both ways in the snow to school and had to grow his own food as well.

Every time a thread of this nature, where it is perceived one is given something of value ( a car, a computer, college, etc), there is no shortage of people such as the guy who has to state how hard he had it and how everyone should therefore be in the same circumstance of being able to afford it. It gets old and frankly quite naive of the world. In case no one has noticed, the world is not fair.

The OP came to this forum to ask for an opinion. Why people can't address that without having to dive into how he is perhaps spoiled never ceases to amaze me.
 
When i was a teenager i owned an Opel Kadett. I worked hard to pay for it, but in the end it felt great. Sadly it didn't last all that long.
You see, one day when i was driving i saw one of the prettiest gals i had ever laid my eyes upon. What i didn't see however was that i ran out of road. I drove right trough a fence and into a strawberry garden while trying to stop the damn thing.
Summary: Girl is laughing at my misfortune, owner of the house hit both me and my car with a rake.

From that day i always focus on the road, so i guess that it was worth something in the end?

...and to keep the thread on track: yes, teenagers should experience the joy of owning a car, but it doesn't hurt to stay on the road!
 
0dev said:
Getting to work on a bus or a train is easy and cheap even outside of cities in most cases. Obviously there's more public transport in cities but it's not like there's no such thing as busess and trains in more rural areas. I live outside a city and can easily get around in public transport
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What country is this?
 
Some of the responses so far are downright rude. To the OP, each situation is different.

I live in a rural area without public transportation. We do not have trains, buses, subways or anything else. We do have public school buses and my kids ride them until junior year.

I bought each of my first 2 kids their first car at age 16. No, they were not new by any means, but they were decent vehicles with 100,000-120,000 miles on each of them and mechanically sound. They worked to pay their own insurance, cell phone plans and fuel. I provided the car. And the deal was I would buy ONE car for each. If either broke beyond repair (cost to repair higher than cost of the car) or was wrecked by their own fault, they were out. That's the same deal my parents gave me, but I had a hand-me-down car they had owned for 13 years.

My daughter's Ford Escape had a head that cracked while she was accelerating from a stop right behind me. Weak aluminum. My son wrecked his and it was his fault.

We took my daughter to the Chevrolet dealer and we co-signed a car loan for her. She makes payments and pays extra on the loan whenever she has extra money. This month she will pay over $200 extra. For my son, we bought another car and he is making payments to us. It was his uncle's car and well maintained. Yes, I footed the bill again, but he is paying it off through free work for my wife with hours tracked.

Both kids work for my wife's business. They are paid an hourly wage and they work very hard (physically demanding work). They have strong work ethic and they know that the burdens of the vehicles, phones and insurance are their responsibilities and they fully live up to what we expect of them. In essence, we get their labor, they get a paycheck, they pay all their bills and they keep the difference. 10% of the total pay goes into savings before a single bill is paid. Whatever is left after all that is theirs to enjoy as they wish.

It is nonsense that people think giving kids a car in some way makes them feel deserving or lazy without any work ethic. My kids require a vehicle because they do half day of high school and half day of college. They must have transportation to and from schools to be in that program and it directly contributes to their education by earning college credits at such a young age. They're to be commended for handling that workload, a job and maintaining their financial requirements at 17-18. Now my daughter is a college student studying nursing and my son will be studying criminal justice with a goal of becoming a police officer. They both have high B college GPA's and I have not one single regret for buying them a car.

I have 2 more kids coming along who at 16 will also get a car. Nothing special, but transportation I will hope they can take care of and keep for a long time. If not, they will go through the pains of buying their next car just like the first two. The example has been set.

So yes, sometimes kids DO need a car regardless of what some of the snippy responses to your question.
 
This is a big social issue question in the US. Yes, I had a paper route when I was 12. I had to go up to strangers houses and collect money and ride my bike in the dark to pick up papers on Sunday morning.

In fairness to kids today, there are no more paperboy/girl jobs. Is it because employers are worried, parents are worried or kids are lazy?
 
senseless said:
This is a big social issue question in the US. Yes, I had a paper route when I was 12. I had to go up to strangers houses and collect money and ride my bike in the dark to pick up papers on Sunday morning.

In fairness to kids today, there are no more paperboy/girl jobs. Is it because employers are worried, parents are worried or kids are lazy?
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Prices for things are higher than ever, wage isn't going up a great deal, and jobs aren't as easy to come by. I think if my kid gets a job and pays for gas, he can drive a car I own (even if he's the primary driver). That will probably be the extent of it.
 
turtle777 said:
You got that wrong. Most things in live are a combination of issues, and financial considerations always play a big part.

Why would your mom finance your car, gas, insurance, repairs, maintenance, if you don't need it ?

The money is better spent savings for college, for example.

You might be right that it's not an affordability issue, but it's still an issue of money WELL spent or not.

If you absolutely want a car, get a job and pay for it yourself.

-t
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I'm not asking why she won't buy me a car. I did ask but it's not like I was expecting her to just hand me a car, so i should probably make the clarification that I am not asking why she isn't giving me a car and that I should just "get a job" which I fully intend to do when I have the time, I was simply asking what people's opinions are on teenagers and cars. I should also clarify that it's also not that she won't buy me one, but more of she doesn't really want me owning one.
 
If you live in the United States in a rural area, definitely. Impossible to do most things without one.
 
AustinIllini said:
The key word here is certainly "access". IMO a teenager does not need their own car, but I support the idea of driving as a privilege.



So where does this short-sighted thought come from? Live in any suburban town in the US and at some point you will at least need ACCESS to a car.
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I was answering the OP's original question. You are now taking the debate off on a tangent. I agree that it's nice to have access to a car. Also, since you didn't read the whole thread, you would have seen that I have lived all over the US with one of my current residences in a very rural area of Texas.
 
Mr Kram said:
I was answering the OP's original question. You are now taking the debate off on a tangent. I agree that it's nice to have access to a car. Also, since you didn't read the whole thread, you would have seen that I have lived all over the US with one of my current residences in a very rural area of Texas.
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I went on a "tangent" because that's a better answer than yes or no. It's a discussion board and we are granted the privilege of discussing the topic of the thread by our moderators.
 
I'm 19, and I absolutely need my car for summers. Usually I have summer internships that pay pretty well (This one will be my highest paying at $16/hr).

And usually they're 20-30 miles away in rush hour traffic.


I don't need it at university, and I don't need it otherwise. But it's nice to have.

In fact, since I got this job (And because of my grades) instead of buying a crappy used car, my parents bought me a 2013 Focus.

I tried to convince them to buy used..but, eh. I'm not complaining :D
 
AustinIllini said:
I went on a "tangent" because that's a better answer than yes or no. It's a discussion board and we are granted the privilege of discussing the topic of the thread by our moderators.
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Wait. You called me short sighted. LMAO. That is not a discussion. We can agree to disagree because in my eyes, a car is not a necessity for a 16 year old kid.
 
Hastings101 said:
If you live in the United States in a rural area, definitely. Impossible to do most things without one.
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I grew up a one and you are very correct. Just jobs at the bigger farms required a good 15 mile ride. I was so proud to be able to drive myself to work without relying on my older brothers getting up that early. :rolleyes:
 
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